


Interlude - Campfire Tales

by Joe_Reaves



Series: Huminals [12]
Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Human, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Animals, Gen, Kid Fic, Master/Slave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-14
Updated: 2010-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:59:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione tells her grandson their history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude - Campfire Tales

Sacha wrapped a blanket around him and peeked through the open doorway of his family's hut. He was supposed to be in bed and asleep, but all the grown ups were having a party and it wasn't fair. He wanted to see the big fire.

He'd lived in the camps with his family for his whole life and one of the most important rules was always you never lit a fire after dark. But today things were different. The adults had all been acting weird for weeks and then this morning Daithi had galloped into camp, sweat glistening on his flanks and his hair streaming behind him in the wind, and barged into Taylor's cabin without even knocking. Everyone had been working at their morning chores and Sacha himself had been studying with the other children, but they'd all stopped to hear what news he'd brought.

Sacha didn't know what he'd said but the adults had all gone insane when they heard it. The chores and school had been cancelled and they'd been sent out in small groups, the older ones to hunt for food for a party and the younger ones to gather firewood for a huge campfire. He'd been allowed to stay up later than usual so he could watch Taylor light it, but then he'd been made to go to bed with all the babies. It wasn't fair. He wasn't a baby any more. He was going to be five soon, that was almost grown up. So he'd pretended, screwing his eyes up tight and holding his breath until the grown ups went back to their party and then he'd gathered up his blanket and had got up again.

As he crept out of the hut, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder and he turned to look up into his grandmother's stern face.

"What do you think you're doing out of bed, little kitten?" she asked.

He looked down. Now he wouldn't get to see the fire. "I wanted to see. I've never seen a fire at night before and I only got to see it lit."

She picked him up and wrapped the blanket around him more tightly. "Well, I suppose staying up a little bit later won't hurt you, just this once." She kissed his hair and carried him towards the noise and light of the party. "Do you know why we've lit the fire?"

Sacha shook his head and then leant it against his grandmother's shoulder. "Everyone's been really strange since Daithi came back but I don't know why. I just wanted to see the pretty fire."

Laughing she rubbed his ears. "Let me tell you a story then, little one and you'll understand why everyone's been so strange."

Carrying him over to a spot near the large fire she settled against a rock with Sacha in her lap and started to talk. By the time she had finished, she would be surrounded by most of the other huminals in the camp as she told the tale of how they came to this place and what they were celebrating now.

"Almost seven hundred years ago, we came to this planet in a ship full of humans. Most of them came in stasis tubes and slept the journey away. Only the scientists and the crew stayed awake. We came in test tubes and breeding tanks. Many of us were created on the journey and held in tanks until the ship landed and we could be 'born'.

"When they landed, they brought us to life and we helped build their homes, grow their food, and protect their settlement. In return they kept us in barns like animals and chained us if we tried to run. Not that many of us ran at first. The settlement had been built in the middle of a desert and running would have been a death sentence for all but a handful of us. The birds might have survived if they could spot an oasis from the air and the lizards who thrive in the heat might have lasted long enough to find water, but the waterholes were few and far between and very few of those who ran would have lived long."

Sacha shuddered and snuggled closer. "Why? What did we do to them to make them treat us like that?"

His grandmother hugged him tighter and kissed his head again. "We didn't do anything, Sacha. But they thought that because they had created us they were as Gods to us and we were inferior. But we've proved them wrong now.

"The humans had to move away from the desert and they took us with them. Most of us. Those that had escaped and survived stayed where they were. The rest came to this land with the huminals and built their cities. But this land was much friendlier and there were some humans, living in the mountains or out in the country that didn't believe they had the right to own us like we were property. More and more of us escaped and lived free, far from the humans in the city and the others who wanted to bring us back and enslave us again.

"The free huminals and the humans who wanted to help us began to work together and we built small communities where the ones who wanted to be our masters couldn't find us. And we started to fight back, ambushing the slave caravans and setting more and more of the huminals free. And as they saw us living on our own, the lies that said we were no more than smart animals began to break down and other humans began to fight for us, in the courts and in the government.

"Eventually, around a century ago, the humans passed a law and it said that those of us born in freedom could never be taken and enslaved again, but those born in captivity still belonged to their masters and could be recaptured and taken back in chains if they escaped. Many of the humans thought that was enough. That it didn't matter that some of us were slaves as long as those of us who were free could stay free. But we didn't agree. No huminal can ever be free while others of our kind still live and work in slavery.

"This camp and others like it fought for our freedom. We could have disappeared into the hills or the savannah and never bothered the humans again, but we couldn't turn our back on our brothers and sisters who were still in captivity."

She shifted and moved Sacha around. "You're getting heavy, little one," she teased. "I was born in a pen and my litter mates and I stayed there until we were old enough to be of use to our masters. But we escaped, my brothers and I. The resistance, those huminals still fighting to defeat the human masters, brought me here where I could live in safety.. My brothers stayed in Marrakech. One found his mates and lived with them, but he always had to be careful he wasn't recognised and captured again. The other found a pack to protect him and he lived with them. I used to visit them when I was younger but now I'm old and it's too far to travel."

"Why can't they come here?" Sacha fought to muffle a yawn so he could stay up and listen to his grandmother for longer.

"Because they're the same age I am, of course, silly kitten." She chuckled and hugged him again.

"Today we got news from Marrakech that we have long been waiting for. Today the government passed a law making slavery illegal and all huminals can live in freedom. That is why we lit this fire. Before we never dared have a fire at night in case it drew attention to us from the humans who wanted to take us back to the city, but now we have nothing to fear. We never have to live as slaves again."

As she finished, the huminals who had gathered round to hear her story clapped and cheered, celebrating their freedom. Sacha tried to cheer sleepily as well, but he was falling asleep in his grandmother's arms. She stood up and quietly carried him back to his hut, tucking him in and kissing his forehead. "Sleep well little Sacha. You never have to worry about the humans ever again. You're safe."

He blinked up at her and smiled. "So are you, grandma Hermione," he said. "I won't let anyone take you away ever!"


End file.
